Talk:Temperament

This page should be unlocked for editing
This page should be unlocked for editing as it describes only one opinion on what are and what are not temperament traits. A large body of research is not mentioned but speculative theories (such as Meyers-Briggs) are listed! It is a shame for the Wikipedia! Plus I agree with very biased presentation of the material. 4.35.248.124 (talk) 23:23, 2 January 2017 (UTC)
 * I agree - the admin should unlock it for editing, as the text represents only a view of one (California's) group on temperament. We have at least 10 other theories around the world! SvSpar (talk) 00:47, 3 January 2017 (UTC)

The part about temperament being genetic is completely theoretical. Further, it shows a Western bias. 76.175.97.243 (talk) 22:33, 7 January 2009 (UTC)
 * I agree with this user: at best, only 40% of variance can be explained by genes in some traits, this means 60% are not genes. People are mistaken biological factors with genetic factors: biology is not necessarily means genes. I also agree that this page shows only theories in child North American psychology and none from Europe & other regions, or adult temperament models, even in North America. 70.90.187.65 (talk) 08:33, 24 October 2016 (UTC)

"Temperament - is the early-appearing, stable individiual differences in reactivity and self-regulation. Reactivity refers to variations in quickness and intensity of emotional arousal, attention, and motor action. Self-regulation refers to strategies that modify reactivity (Rothbart, 2004; Rothbart &Bates, 1998)."
 * whoever wrote this unsigned fragment - should mention that this definition is Rothbart's but not a universally accepted definition.70.90.187.65 (talk) 08:33, 24 October 2016 (UTC)

Would agree- really don't see any justification for keeping this page locked. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 36.11.225.36 (talk) 08:44, 26 April 2020 (UTC)

re "Rudolf Steiner and the four temperaments" section
If this article is intended to deal with some marginally scientific take on temperament, then Rudy doesn't really belong here. Steiner also wrote about how the Buddha went to Mars to teach the "mars men." Caveat emptor. Clocke 02:09, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

cf. Myers-Briggs, suggested below, while we're caveat-ing.Jean Mercer 17:18, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Addition moved from article
The following unreferenced paragraph was added to the end of the article:
 * What is temperament and what qualities make up my behavioral style?

Categories of temperament or behavioral style indicate how the individual responds to the environment around him or her, and uses 9 categories to describe these reactions: activity level, regularity, adaptability, approach to novelty, emotional intensity, quality of mood, sensory sensitivity, distractibility and persistence --Niels Ø 19:55, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

It seems to me that the bulk of this article stems from theories by "Thomas, Chess, Birch, Hertzig and Korn", whereas I am sure there are other aspects of "Temperament" that are not related to those theories. Keirsey and Myers-Briggs for example. Yet there is not even a reference to them from this article. Perhaps it should be replaced with a broader scoped, all-covering text, moving the specific Thomas et al theory to its own page? Lasse Hillerøe Petersen 12:45, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

Suggestions
Oh please let's not have Myers-Briggs, a test without an evidentiary foundation.

I would like to see the entire checklist removed. Again, there is no evidence to suggest that there is any magic about two or more than two discrepancies, and a good deal of evidence that problems associated with temperament may be situational (e.g., crowded home) as well as interpersonal.

I am adding some recent work by Kagan.Jean Mercer 17:03, 23 August 2007 (UTC)


 * The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator has a substantial evidentiary foundation, based on 50 years of research. But the MBTI was designed to identify personality differences in healthy people, not temperament problems that may indeed be situational. The real validity question about the MBTI is not whether it accurately measures what it purports to measure, in terms of the dichotomies (statistically speaking, it does), but whether putting those dichotomies together to form a catalog of personality types is valid. Proponents argue apples, and critics argue oranges.


 * At any rate, the MBTI isn't really about temperament, it's about personality types. The closely related Keirsey Temperament Sorter is about temperament, and in fact this article could benefit from the addition of David Keirsey's research into temperament theory from a historical perspective.ThreeOfCups (talk) 01:58, 21 April 2009 (UTC)

Artistic temperament
Is that section for real? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.189.230.42 (talk) 05:50, 5 February 2008 (UTC)


 * Who turned this article into a child psychology thing with horrible grammar and punctuation? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.83.249.6 (talk) 14:40, 8 June 2008 (UTC)


 * I'm in favor of deleting the section on Artistic temperament, unless someone wants to rewrite it from a scientific perspective. Right now, it's pure silliness. ThreeOfCups (talk) 02:09, 21 April 2009 (UTC)


 * Agreed. The Thomas and Chess stuff, which forms the bulk of the article, is solid, and well within the mainstream of psychology.  The rest of the stuff is nowhere near that level and doesn't seem to belong here.  I could see keeping a bit of the historical stuff about the four humours, moved up to create a sort of historical intro, but not giving it the kind of undue weight that presenting it as essentially an alternative to Thomas and Chess does. I'm new to editing... how do we know when we have consensus to do something bold? Mirafra (talk) 04:59, 17 July 2009 (UTC)


 * I've tried to broaden this article to include a range of theories. I've looked at a number of contemporary reviews and see no sign that Thomas and Chess have been any more successful than their predecessors in evoking consensus. All WP:notable psychological theories that have used temperament should be included; some of these could be in a "history" section if they are no longer commonly used. Still missing: Keirsey, Myers-Briggs. hgilbert (talk) 07:38, 17 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Since there's no ongoing controversy about this article, be as bold as you like. If someone objects, they're sure to let you know. :) ThreeOfCups (talk) 23:36, 17 July 2009 (UTC)


 * I made some changes to the opening to re-establish a clear distinction between "temperament" as the innate aspects of personality and "character" as the learned aspects. I think it's important to define temperament in some way&mdash;that is, to distinguish it from personality&mdash;rather than to leave it wide open. I also think it's important, if temperament is defined as innate, to give a name to those aspects of personality that are not innate. The opening now makes it clear that there's no consensus about the nature of temperament, and no conclusive evidence of a biological basis of personality. So I think that using and defining those terms as I have done is unlikely to cause confusion. Those are the terms that this article uses, even if the larger community doesn't agree on the terms. ThreeOfCups (talk) 00:53, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

1 + 2 = 2
''Temperament is defined as that part of the personality which is genetically based. Along with character, and those aspects acquired through learning, the two together are said to constitute personality.'' This doesn't make any sense, and yet just replacing the word 'two' with 'three' doesn't seem like much of an improvement. Comments? Dlabtot (talk) 07:45, 16 April 2009 (UTC)
 * I looked at the article history to see how this discrepancy was introduced. Originally, "those aspects acquired through learning" was used an appositive for "character." Someone apparently misunderstood the sentence and added the word "and." I corrected the error.
 * BTW, it looks like some good information has been edited out of this article. If anyone's interested in going through the history to improve the article, that would be a worthwhile endeavor. ThreeOfCups (talk) 01:38, 21 April 2009 (UTC)
 * I don't know... I've never heard of "character" as being defined as "those (personality) aspects acquired through learning".... WP's page on moral character doesn't say anything like that... Dlabtot (talk) 01:42, 21 April 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm only saying that that's what the original author of the sentence wrote. I'm not saying it's accurate. No source is cited for confirmation. But the quotation from Martin Luther King Jr. at Moral character does suggest that it is learned&mdash;the product of education. ThreeOfCups (talk) 02:45, 21 April 2009 (UTC)

One of the best books on a particular temperament is Elaine Aron's The Highly Sensitive Person. (1996) Broadway Books. The book is very useful, for people with this body/personality type. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.32.86.28 (talk) 05:06, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

Link to Big 5
Given this article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traits I would suggest linking to it in this article where it is mentioned. I'd do that myself, but the article is locked. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.56.71.52 (talk) 00:06, 20 September 2011 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 1 one external link on Temperament. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20090208061706/http://www.schwablearning.org:80/articles.asp?r=495 to http://www.schwablearning.org/articles.asp?r=495

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.

Cheers. —cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 14:30, 29 August 2015 (UTC)

Major edit is needed but the page is locked
I wonder who decided that this page is well-done to be locked from editing. This page is strongly biased in favour of infants'based 2 models of temperament whereas there are minimum 20 temperament models offered in the 20ths century. The attention of admin is needed to unlock this page. 70.90.187.65 (talk) 08:25, 24 October 2016 (UTC)
 * You can register as an editor and establish your credibility through edits on other pages first. Establishing a track record will automatically allow you to edit this and most other locked pages. Cl ea n Co py talk 12:13, 24 October 2016 (UTC)
 * I also believe that the page should go through a massive editing but the page is (semi)locked. I am registered as an editor but I can't unlock the page. Someone needs to contact the admins...

I have a small criticism when this article refers to Thomas and Chess's 9 temperaments. In the "activity" subsection, the article refers to "high-energy" children. The word "energy" seems to be used as a substitution for the word activity. I don't think that the original authors intended to make the claim that a high activity child is equivalent to a high energy child, making the usage of the word "energy" original research in this context.

Johnnmillerr (talk) 05:45, 6 January 2018 (UTC)

Definition
...broadly refers to consistent individual differences in behavior that are biologically based and are relatively independent of learning, system of values and attitudes.

1. I think "degrees of expression of certain behavior traits" (or "characteristics" or "features") would be more appropriate than "differences in behavior". Most temperament traits have been stated as a list of about 10 characteristics; if there are not longer lists, it means those "differences" are not too many and, as far as I know, can be roughly measured.

2. Is it "system of values and attitudes" or "system of values; and, attitudes"? If it refers to collective attitudes, the definition, in its current form, might be correct (but it does sound a bit odd); otherwise, they must correspond to the attitudes of the individual and should be clarified by rewriting it as something like "system of values of the society to which the person belongs/with which he identifies/etc.; and, the attitudes of such individual" and, additionally, it should be explained how the individual developed such attitudes which oppose his "natural" temperament. George Rodney Maruri Game (talk) 04:04, 12 July 2022 (UTC)

3 paragraphs misplaced
The following three paragraphs are misplaced. They are currently located in section 2.5.3 'Effortful Control', which they  have nothing to do with. I suggest they should be put in a new section under "2 Main Models", for instance, "2.6 Other Models". Looks to me like the intention was to describe 3 other models of temperment, besides those described in 2.1-2.5, and the author simply appended the three paragraphs at the end of section 2. Unfortunately, just appending them to the end simply placed them in 2.5.3.

"Solomon Diamond described temperaments based upon characteristics found in the animal world: fearfulness, aggressiveness, affiliativeness, and impulsiveness. His work has been carried forward by Arnold Buss and Robert Plomin, who developed two measures of temperament: The Colorado Child Temperament Inventory, which includes aspects of Thomas and Chess's schema, and the EAS Survey for Children. H. Hill Goldsmith and Joseph Campos used emotional characteristics to define temperament, originally analyzing five emotional qualities: motor activity, anger, fearfulness, pleasure/joy, and interest/persistence, but later expanding to include other emotions. They developed several measures of temperament: Lab-TAB and TBAQ. Other temperament systems include those based upon theories of adult temperament (e.g. Gray and Martin's Temperament Assessment Battery for Children), or adult personality (e.g.the Big Five personality traits)." DlronW (talk) 00:18, 6 December 2022 (UTC)